


Inkopolis Nocturne

by yulia914



Series: Inkopolis Rhapsody [3]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yulia914/pseuds/yulia914
Summary: Off The Hook's concert finally gets under way. Meanwhile, other denizens of Inkopolis try to capitalize on the crowds that show up to the concert, while fending off their own problems that night. Some of them more serious than others.
Relationships: Marina/Pearl (Splatoon)
Series: Inkopolis Rhapsody [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110266
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tried my hand at having a few somewhat interconnecting stories. I think it came out well! Hope you all enjoy.
> 
> Also I just realized that labeling a "series" is a thing because I am amazingly slow. Probably would have been helpful to do that for this, although I try to make the individual stories stand alone. Let me know if it doesn't work so well.

“YO, INKOPOLIS!!!”

Bright lights, cheering audience, a ready staff, and at the center of it all is Off the Hook. Starfish Mainstage, in all it’s splendor, bursts in raw hype when the duo runs onto the stage. The shorter inkling dressed in bright gold pants and a black shirt with glowing rings lining her arms, and the taller octoling in a reflective full body silver outfit with neon teal bands on her elbows and knees.

The concert has been a long time coming and, after some unusual setbacks, Off the Hook is hosting for all the adulation their fanbase can give them. The two wave to the audience as Pearl pulls the mic back up.

“That’s all y’all can do? Where’s the NOISE!”

The crowd goes wild again as Marina giggles to herself. She’s reminded of the first concert they had together, where Pearl had the whole audience eating out of her hands the whole time. It was truly Pearl’s domain, and Marina could only admire at how skilled she was at it.

“AIGHT das much better. Now, before we start, we got a couple of quick announcements to make. First of all, don’t bust out no lighters.” She smiles as the crowd starts laughing. It was basically an open secret what had happened a couple of weeks earlier at that same spot. What had actually remained a secret (even to Pearl) was Marina not fully recovering from her injuries yet braving through the concert anyway.

“We also got to, OF COURSE we got to, we got a special member of the audience today that we got to thank for coming all the way out here to see us. Give it up for Calimari County’s own, Callie Cuttlefish!”

A camera zooms in on the purple inkling’s wide smile as she gives a thumbs up for the crowd and waves. She has her tentacles tied up and is wearing a cap with a band tee and torn jeans. Not exactly the Squid Sisters’ brand of famous outfits but something a bit more appropriate for this concert.

“Thanks for coming! This might be a different flavor than what you’re used to Callie, but don’t worry, is as lovely as any slice of cake. Or, uh, ice cream for those of us with lesser tastes.” Pearl can feel her co-star’s eyes roll.

“Marina! Let’s not keep them waiting! What we got to start with?”

“Sure! None other than… MUCK WARFARE!”

With the roar of the crowd, the lights start shifting as the choreography starts.

*****

_~Earlier in the day~_

A young isopod runs towards the main entrance of Walleye Warehouse. He appears nervous.

“I hope I’m not too late! Gotta make a good first impression. Where did he say he’d be at again?”

The isopod checks his phone and starts heading for Gate 17. There he meets a tall shrimp with a cap and a white apron on.

“Hey kiddo, you found me!” Crusty Sean waves over as a sliver of relief escapes his face.

Sean, choosing to follow his dreams of being in the food business, has achieved a bit of success with his food truck. Like the rest of the food industry, it is quite a lot of work for not much profit. One way to solve that profit problem is to sell food to quite a lot of people in a short time span. Maybe even to people that are attending a concert right after.

“Sorry boss, if I knew you had started already I would have come earlier.”

“No worries. I’m glad you came, the last kid flaked on me. I know you told me this already, but it’s been a busy day. I didn’t catch your name?”

“Call me Golni, Mr. Sean.”

Sean guides Golni to the Gate 17 entrance where there are some boxes stacked up and countless more inside. Walleye Warehouse is, well, a warehouse and it’s constantly got people coming and going to pick up or store containers. Sometimes, certain Gate owners rent out their storage space for some Turf Wars, although it tends not to last too long as people inevitably show up needing to access their storage containers.

Golni, being an isopod in his late teens, is excited at working his first real job. He’s hoping that working under Sean a bit might lead to him getting solid footing in the restaurant business. Sean, on the other hand, is just happy he isn’t going to deal with the Off the Hook concert rush by himself. Both begin to carry boxes of vegetable produce and load them into a van.

“This is a bit much for the food truck, so we’ll fill this van out and then drive to Starfish to unload everything next to the assigned Lot Check space where I have the truck. Might take a couple of trips. You got a license, right kiddo?”

Golni nods as he sets down a box.

“Good, that way I won’t risk the Gate owner closing the gate on me. We’re the only ones here for the next couple of hours according to their schedule and they might do weird things if it’s suddenly just you standing here. I’ll text you the location of the parked truck. A friend of mine’s keeping an eye on it, so he’ll watch the boxes while you get back. I’ll get some more boxes stacked here for the return trip.”

*****

~ _Even_ _e_ _arlier_ _s_ _till~_

A cold, sterile white studio. Nothing adorning the walls. Nothing except a mattress pushed up on the wall and a stack of boxes next to it. And a chair in the middle of the room.

A sea anemone with pink and green hair sits on the chair. She’s staring at the wall with a frightened and disturbed look. Some days are better for her mental health than others.

“SO, UH, YOU JUST GONNA KEEP DOING THIS AND NOT FEED ME? NO? UGH I’LL GO MYSELF”

A yellow clownfish gets out of the anemone’s hair and floats over to the kitchen table, where his pellets are stored in a bottle. He crudely headbutts it to knock it down. _Wow she really mus_ _t_ _be out of it, she usually starts yelling about my health or some shit._

As Moe’s eating, he looks back at his dissociated anemone friend.

“SO LET’S RECAP THE LAST 2 WEEKS. YOU SCAMMED OUR SALES CONTACT INTO GETTING HIGHER QUALITY COUNTERFEIT MERCH, FLIPPED IT FOR CASH AND CRAPPIER SHIT, SOLD THE CRAPPIER SHIT TO SOME BOOTLEGGERS _KNOWING_ THEY WOULD BE OUT FOR BLOOD ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, HELPED SOME RAPPERS COMMIT MEDICAL FRAUD FOR NO REASON, STABBED AN ISOPOD, AND LIFTED SOME MORE BOOTLEG MERCH FOR THIS CONCERT AT STARFISH. DID I MISS ANYTHING?”

Annie comes to and doesn’t bother to look at Moe.

“That shark scams us all the time. We needed the cash at the time to keep the SplatNet business up. Those bootleggers were too weak to do anything. I wanted to help them even if you don’t believe me, --THAT WAS SELF DEFENSE, ASSHOLE--, and we need some quick cash to pay rent.”

Moe is busy chewing on his pellets. “WE GOT PLENTY OF CASH FOR RENT. THE FUCK YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU JUST RAN OUT OF EXCUSES”

“STOP FUCKING YELLING! And stop eating those pellets, you’ve had enough.”

Moe looks up and floats back to her hair. “Well, fine. I can’t believe your bitch ass stabbed that dude. Shit was amazing. Tho you ain’t gotta lie to me about ‘self-defense’ like I wasn’t there.”

Annie ignores him and goes back to staring at the wall.

“Kinda glad you’re actually good at this counterfeit business. In spite of those voices of yours. We woulda been killed by now otherwise”

“You’re not getting more pellets.”

Moe starts pulling on one of Annie’s hair tendrils.

“The concert today is for those rappers you helped, right? What, ya think those lesbos are gonna just give you backstage passes?”

“...Lesbos?” Annie shakes out of it a bit and puts on a confused look. First look other than the disturbed stare she’s had in hours.

“That short bitch immediately was OK with participating in your medical fraud just to see that DJ. I ain’t ever see that happen for ‘just a friend’.”

“...It’s not our business, Moe. And I really wanted to help.”

“All you do is lie. That tiny bit of good karma ain’t doing jack shit for us right now. How many studios have we moved to the last few months? You ain’t careful, bi--”

Annie immediately grabs Moe out of her hair, eyes suddenly full of rage at her tiny friend. “If YOU weren’t so fucking loud and actually did some work we wouldn’t be in this Zapfish-forsaken situation right now with those bootleggers tearing up the streets looking for us.”

“YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE WEAK HAHA”

Annie throws him at the mattress and goes back to staring at the wall. Moe just chuckles as he drops to the floor.

*****

~ _Right before the concert starts~_

Outside of Starfish Mainstage, various vendors have finished selling their pre-concert merchandise and take a break before they start re-racking for the post-concert crowds. Among these vendors taking a break, is a large yellow spider crab. Who is halfway through a blunt.

“Duuuuuddde. This is exactly the hash I needed right now, this crowd was such a hassle.”

He’s in a little stall listening to a radio broadcast that the concert staff provides for the vendors. It’s of the concert itself with some occasional speaking from a staff member, and it serves as a way for the vendors to know what stage of the concert they’re currently on. Useful to know when to start getting ready. Bisk couldn’t care less at the moment and preferred when it was DJ Real Sole that the lot speakers were playing. _Heh, maybe I’m making it lmao_

He takes another hit when someone punches him in the arm. “Yo, pass it, Bisk.”

He turns to see who it is. A white-and-green tentacled inkling wearing a green hat, green shirt, and a pulled-down white mask. Perhaps Bisk should have known just from the voice.

“Marie, girl, it’s been a while. Hey, give that back!”

Marie takes a hit and just slinks against the outside wall of the vendor stall. “Oh. Nice. You always find good shit, Bisk.”

“You can’t say hi like a normal person, instead of just showing up and taking my hash?”

“I know you, you probably have a bag more of this behind us.”

Bisk laughs as he looks back at the spot where he has the marijuana bag. He has no idea how Marie always knows these things.

“It’s been a few months. Where have you been? You used to stop by every now and then to bum off some weed. Don’t even know why, surely you of all people could have even better connections than I do.”

“Callie hates my habit and does not want anything even remotely unclean staining our name. I tell her it’s just weed, but she starts bitching and I can’t deal with it nowadays.”

“Wait, the radio staff mentioned Callie in the audience. Why aren’t you there with her?”

Marie rolls her eyes. “We’re allowed to do things separately, you know.”

“What happened the last time you told me that?”

Marie looks away for a bit. It was when they started their solo careers, and eventually led to Callie being kidnapped. Thankfully, Marie, Sheldon, and a girl Marie named Agent 4 were able to rescue her in Octo Valley. Marie was despondent for so long, and a part of her never was put back in it’s place after the ordeal.

She takes another hit.

“Look, I don’t tell you these things for you to throw them back at me. And if you really want to know, me and Callie went together to support some local band some time back, and the audience seemed more interested in us than the band. It was super embarrassing (oh god I sound like Callie) so we agreed to attend concerts separately afterward.”

Marie left out that supporting an Octoling bothered her to no end.

“Makes sense. Pass it back.”

Marie hands the blunt over as she looks at the lights of the concert.

_She must be having fun._


	2. Chapter 2

“Y’ALL LOVING THIS CONCERT SO FAR?”

The crowd is cheering as Pearl is running around pumping everyone up. Marina is getting dizzy just watching her girl run in circles. Pearl then points at a staffer next to the ceiling lights.

“YO YO. LIGHT ONLY ON ME, I GOT A PRONOUNCEMENT FOR Y’ALL.”

On command, the concert hall darkens except for one spotlight on Pearl. Marina takes the opportunity to sit behind the DJ booth. She’s gritting through her exhaustion, but it’s wearing her down quicker than she expected. It’s been some time since her military training.

After about 20 seconds of looking at the ground, Pearl pulls up her mic with a somber look. “SO. I ain’t supposed to tell y’all this. Is dangerous. It can cause problems, potentially end my career, and cause a great war. I struggled with this decision, but it has to be done. It has to. I hope my fans understand. But--”

Pearl stops and looks at the crowd with a huge grin.

“Y’ALL HAVE BEEN THE BEST CROWD EVERRRRRRRR!!!~”

The crowd erupts as Marina giggles. Pearl points at Callie who is cracking up. “HAD YOU GOING HUH?”

*****

_~Earlier in the day~_

Golni arrives at the Starfish Mainstage lot, where he meets a certain yellow spider crab, who is there looking after the truck.

“Yo, you must be the dude working for Sean, am I right? I’m Bisk.”

Golni introduces himself as they both start unloading the van.

“Sean’s a great dude. Helped me get the job I got and always fries some incredible food. I’m surprised he took so long in starting his truck. He was always passionate about his cooking. Better late than never, heh. Looks like you got bit with the same bug, huh?”

Golni grunts as he’s moving the boxes. “Well, I’m just feeling out my options at the moment. Nothing grabs me, but the food industry sounds exciting. How long have you been waiting here for us?”

“A while, but I had to be here to get my stuff through Lot Check. Not like I would have told Sean no, but he got lucky that I was going to be here anyway. Off the Hook always brings paying customers to these events and we just can’t miss them. Wish they did more events honestly.”

Once they’re done unloading boxes, Golni heads back to Walleye Warehouse, where he picks up Sean and the meat produce, and heads right back to Starfish Mainstage. “You met Bisk? He’s a good dude. Needs to lay off the weed, but otherwise a hard worker. Then again, what do I know, maybe weed is why he’s so good at his job.”

Back at the food truck, Sean thanks Bisk for the help and starts walking Golni through the paces. The young isopod is a bit overwhelmed, but quickly catches on. “We’re going to keep it simple since the volume gets to be a bit much during both pre-concert and post-concert rushes. We’re just going to sell simple Crusty Seanwiches and the Deep-Fried Shwaffle. The fancier stuff takes too long and isn’t worth the time investment for these rushes. I’ll be taking orders and cooking mostly everything, but I’ll need you to maintain the fryers and help out where you can, whether it be chopping veggies or cleaning utensils. If you see it bubble too much, turn it off and start the pump. Check if enough grit has been washed off, dry, and then refill with oil and start the heating process. Trust me, you don’t want to just leave that as is, it will make the food taste awful and clog the pipes later on.”

“Hey boss, did you really used to do this yourself?”

“Hehe no kiddo, only made that mistake the first time. I learned the hard way to have a help or two for concerts.”

“Well, I’m glad to help. My uncle’s always pushing for me to work hard, and it sounds like this will be that.”

Sean laughs as he starts to open the bags of waffles. “You can officially say you were in some deep stuff after tonight.”

*****

_~_ _Right before the concert_ _~_

Annie hands the scallops some cash. “Thanks, w-we’ll take it from here.”

Moe had rustled a couple of scallops to move the boxes of counterfeit merchandise to their van, where they would then head out to Starfish Mainstage. Since none of their merchandise was official, they would have to sneak past the Lot Check and set up in a spot between stalls. There were so many vendors that that part of the scheme was easy. And Annie had plenty of experience evading Lot Check so she knew where and when to drive in. She then parked a mile outside the fence entrance to survey.

Unfortunately, her plan won’t work today.

“Moe, call Lox. See if he can get us in.”

“DIDN’T YOU START SCREAMING LAST TIME?”

“I was a little nervous, just all! My usual method with service gate C won’t work since they seem to have dug up the pavement there. If Lox can’t help us then we’ll have to carry boxes in by hand.”

“YOU MEAN YOU, RIGHT. UGH FINE GIVE ME A COUPLE”

Annie looks out the window at the receding sunset. In her younger years, she made a painting of a sunset over the mountains in the northern reaches of the Sealion Desert. It had even gotten her placed at a competition back then. But that was a lifetime and many decisions ago at this point. Annie didn’t even know where that painting was.

“OK WE’RE GOOD. HE WANTS 200 FOR THIS”

“No, he wanted 150 last time.”

“GET THOSE ARMS WARMED UP THEN”

Annie starts the van and heads over to service gate B. There, they stop at the booth and are met by an incredibly tall, skinny sea urchin, who pierces Annie with his eye.

“License and registration, madam.”

Annie hands over her license with 200 cash. Lox counts the cash and just hands back the license. Annie is unbelievably uneasy at this point.

“Everything looks good. Stay safe out there. **A** **nemone**.”

Annie hits the gas and tears out of the booth, unable to stand the urchin.

“CHILL BITCH, WE AIN’T IN A RUSH”

“Sorry! I can’t deal with urchins normally, they scare me so much.”

“YOU TERRIFIED OF EVERYONE”

Many studies have been done on what exactly it is about anemones and urchins, but biologists believe that their fighting predates sapiency by eons. As they evolved, gained sapiency and bipedalism, and made it to land, their fighting continued to the point where many of the oldest inkling records depicted various wars between the two groups. Modern society (for the most part) quelled the violence but there was still a general unease between the two groups and they usually inhabited separate cities. Inkopolis, being a global megalopolis, attracted all types of peoples and provided sociologists with chances to observe how the two groups dealt with each other. Some are fine for the most part, although many more still cannot explain how their fears are lit up in the presence of the other. Annie, who is naturally skittish to begin with, can really only deal with Murch and that’s mainly because they are almost never near each other.

“We’re here. There should be a gap between the soda dispensary and the headphone shop stalls. We’ll set up a stand so that we don’t stick out too much. Then again, there seems to be a lot of chaos here so that’ll help us.”

“LOOK AT YOU, ALREADY SURVEYING THE SCENE. SOMETIMES I’M ALMOST PROUD”

*****

_~During the concert intermission~_

“LMAO Bisk, I’m telling you.”

“The fuck you talking about? How could * _giggle*_ humans have ‘bio jet packs’ on their backs?”

“No no no HAHA have you ever had to lift a whole human skeleton? It’s fucking heavy! How could they move? Ha like, it weighed as much as a pizza. Maybe 2. Speaking of which, roll me another one.”

“You don’t make sense, dude. And you’ve already gone through the one I gave you.”

“It barely had anything! Dumb crab.”

Marie stares at the concert venue with bloodshot eyes. “Hey, how come you don’t try to work some music gigs? You know like half the industry, it would be easy for you to start.”

Bisk laughs at her face. “I’m a shoe salesman, Marie.”

“I know who you pretend to be. You’re not as slick or bad as you think.”

“Man, and I thought you were spitting nonsense before. You’re way too high to be thinking I’m some crazy good, talented underground artist. I’m just trying to make a quick buck selling shoes. Who happens to know such good dealers that even the illustrious Marie Cuttlefish deigns to slum it here.”

“Fucker saying ‘deigns’. Man just for that--”

Marie walks into the stall and grabs his weed bag.

“Dude what”

“You need to sober up and start arranging your stall. Concert intermission’s been over according to your radio. Don’t worry, I’ll dispose of this for you as only a true profreshional superstar such as myself would.”

“You know how much that cost?”

“I’ll app it to you, start working.”

Marie puts on her white mask and backpack, and waves goodbye. Bisk is left just sitting there.

“Ugh, she’s got a point. I’m way behind anyway with this stall.”

He stands up and chuckles to himself. “‘Bio jet packs’ that girl says the dumbest shit high.”


	3. Chapter 3

Last note plays, and Off the Hook linger in their finishing poses for a bit. Sweating up a storm, but the crowd is hyped as can be. Pearl runs up and grabs the mic.

“I THOUGHT I DIED OUT THERE WITH THE LOVE I’M GETTING OUT HERE RIGHT NOW! Yo Callie, you must be the boatsquid but I ain’t got no coins. I got a way to pay for my voyage tho, we plan on--”

At that moment, Pearl sees a red light come from the GM office. In Starfish Mainstage, this was an emergency signal to take five. Usually reserved for something needing a bit more time to be worked or some behind the scenes emergency that the show hosts wouldn’t know about.

“OK kids, squids, and superstars, we got something special planned, but you gotta give us a couple to set up. BRB!”

In the backstage, Pearl meets up with a jelly staff member who hands her a walkie-talkie. On the other side is the general manager of Starfish Mainstage, Zulet. “Houzuki, you hear me?”

“Yeah Zulet, what’s up?”

“Have you seen your partner in the last few minutes?”

“Yeah she’s right here next to me--”

Pearl turns and looks at Marina, who looks incredibly pale. She immediate switches to best friend mode.

“Hey, you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t even notice.”

“I’m fine Pearlie. Really, let’s go back out there.”

“No you look very sick. Is this the injury?”

“I said I’m fine. Please.”

Zulet interrupts the spat. “Iida, I’ve been keeping an eye on you and you’re slowly starting to struggle out there. Your manager here noticed it also. That last song had dimmed lights so the crowd couldn’t really tell but I bet Callie Cuttlefish did. You’re not quite recovered yet, are you?”

Marina looks at Pearl, who has an extremely concerned look on her face.

“I… I thought I could make it tonight. I mean I can, I feel fine.”

Pearl thinks for a second. “Zulet, we’re going back out there. I have a backup plan for this. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so, Houzuki. Don’t let me down.”

Pearl hands back the walkie-talkie to the jelly staff member and tells her some directions to forward to the lights crew as they start walking back. “Reena, you didn’t need to hide this from me.”

“Why does no one believe me?”

“Yo’ face snitched. But it’s fine, the next one is a bit of a slower song. Just stay at the booth for now and I’ll distract everyone. Can you do this for me?”

Marina looks at Pearl giving her the big seal eyes and just can’t fight it. She nods. Then Pearl takes a moment to check Marina out, and Marina looks back a bit incredulously.

“Just try to not look so hot.”

Pearl’s mischievous smile lingers as she runs back and picks back to the mic.

“SO AS I WAS SAYING! We gotta pay for this voyage. I can think of something valuable to give our boatsquid. Me and Marina… we in the final stages of a new album! And we just wanna give y’all a taste!”

Pearl looks at the DJ booth, where Marina is standing and bracing her arms against the DJ booth. “...That’s right Pearl, we got one song we’d like to get some… community feedback on!”

“YEAH! This song! It’s dedicated to those who’s got your back, those who you meet at the end of the day and just chill with, and for…”

Pearl turns around and looks at Marina. Away from the camera, and with the mic away from her face, Pearl looks into Marina’s eyes and whispers out in Octarian, «My love.»

Marina blushes and quickly says her line, “FOR ALL YOUR BESTEST BUDDIES! We present: ‘INKOPOLIS NOCTURNE’!”

As the lights start segueing into the song, there was one person who was close enough and at the right angle to see Pearl’s lips. Someone who had learned Octarian after months of work and captivity with the Octarian military.

“No way.”

*****

_~Earlier in the day~_

“Sean, you weren’t kidding about the volume, damn!”

“I wouldn’t kid about this, kiddo!”

A huge crowd is at the Crusty Sean Foodtruck as Sean and Golni run around trying to fill out orders. Seanwiches and Shwaffles, flying around and being handed off to hungry customers who want to eat something quickly before they walk into the concert hall. Oil tanks being drained and refilled, bags of waffles and hot dog bread being opened. Golni chopping vegetables, Sean seasoning shrimp and dunking them in the fryer. The young isopod quickly washing utensils, the large shrimp taking more orders. The two had quite the synergy and were operating at a level required of the stressful food truck business.

Golni looks out the front and does a double take at the crowd.

“Kid, everything looks good? We still have about 20 minutes of this left.”

“Oh wow, it’s like we’re barely making a dent, Mr. Sean. I’ll get started with the onions.”

Golni opens the enormous bag of onions. “Hey do you think we’ll need all this? Seems like a lot even if the next rush is just as big.”  
“Just keep cooking everything. It’s all got a destination address. I’ll tell you the details when this is done.”

Golni starts to work on the onions. _Was this_ _what I wanted? It’s actually not so bad._

*****

_~During the concert intermission~_

Annie quickly counts the cash in her bag behind some boxes. “Moe, we did pretty well, we’ll sell through all the boxes by the end of the post-concert rush at this rate.”

“AW YEAH, MO’ MONEY”

Annie walks back out and stretches her arms. For a second, things feel calm. This is going well, the vendor lot is pretty calm, and she’s even been able to deal with customers without getting too jittery.

Out in the distance is a girl with a green shirt and white cap seemingly trip on nothing then taking a hit from a joint. Annie’s about to point her out to Moe when he’s suddenly grabbed.

“WHAT THE HELL”

Annie turns and sees an enormous isopod grabbing Moe as she herself is picked up and carried by another isopod.

“AHHHH L-LET ME DOWN!”

No response.

“W-where are you t-taking us?”

No response.

They’re hauled off to a small truck in the lot with a slightly open back entrance. One of the isopods opens the door and Annie and Moe are thrown onto the truck bed.

“Annie, darling. I would have set up an appointment, but you suddenly vanished without a trace? I wonder why.”

Annie picks herself up and looks at the other end of the empty truck inside as the back door closes. There’s an isopod in jeans and a black button shirt standing next to a larger isopod, who is wearing a suit with gold chains.

“YO VUTIS, IT’S BEEN A WHILE HUH”

“Moe, don’t talk.”

Vutis is an isopod who has ran the counterfeit merchandise business in eastern Inkoplis for some time now. Annie worked with him from time to time, and got along just fine. At least as well as two cogs in the counterfeit machine can be. But then--

“Annie, Annie. Do you know why you’re here?”

“N-no. I was just trying t-to make some money off of this concert.”

“Haha yes. I thought Starfish Mainstage Lot Check banned you from their premises a couple of months back? No matter, their negligence helps me for once! Also a lovely sea urchin as well.”

 _I knew I couldn’t trust him again._ Annie’s anger at the urchin quickly gives in to fear as she realizes her situation.

“Annie, I’m not mad that we’ve been wasting so much manpower trying to find you. I employ a lot of fat fucks, they got in some good exercise. I’m not mad that you stabbed one of my men on Urchin Blvd. He’s twice your height, it’s his dumbass fault he got stabbed. But what I am mad at-- what truly, irrevocably pisses me off, is that you chose to sell me garbage Forge Designer Headphones. Listen, I get it. Counterfeit isn’t as durable as the real thing. You and me, we live by skirting the truth and selling that lie. But you crossed a line by NOT TELLING **ME** AT ALL HOW SHITTY THEY WERE.”

Annie stood there, understanding that her life was essentially over. No way she could get out alive.

“Sure we would have renegotiated the rate, but I could still make use of something like that garbage. But right now? I got vendors in eastern Inkopolis and the Utrek Domes pissed and demanding refunds. Do you know how much this cost me? Are you able to understand the ridiculous amounts of money in the air that you threatened? How long it will take to rebuild confidence? Like, what I lack with you right now?”

Annie slowly starts dissociating as the voices in her head start getting louder. Moe looks at her and recognizes her face. For the first time in many years, he feels a pang of remorse. _Maybe I should have made her continue to see that_ _therapist when she bailed._ _Who cares, we’re dead soon anyway._

“I live by a simple philosophy. Money heals all wounds. If you happen to have the cash now to refund the headphones, then maybe we can start over, little anemone. Truth be told, you have quite an eye to spot deals and it would be a waste to stay on bad terms if you can fix what you did.”

Annie, dissociated, stands in silence. Moe interjects before the silence consumes their lives.

“WE, UH, WE DON’T EVEN HAVE HALF OF WHAT YOU GAVE US. IF WE CAN JUST HAVE MORE TIME---”

“More time? Stupid clownfish, time is not on your side today. Neither was luck.”

Vutis whispers something at his guard and looks back at Annie. “You two aren’t the only ones I work with. Sometimes, we need to hand them some hair tendrils to remind them that they should… stay fresh, as the kids of today say.”

The guard slowly walks forward and starts reaching for something on his back. Time slows for Moe, as he turns to Annie. _She’s lucky, she’s so far gone that she won’t know what hit her._

Annie immediately reaches for something behind her back and pulls it out.

A weapon that began life as a portable cannon, hundreds of years back.

A gun.

For oil based creatures (like inklings, octolings, and salmonids to state a few), the best way to kill someone is to overload their oil-based organism with foreign ink. But for non-oily creatures? Nothing quite like tearing bullet holes through a body.

But this is not a weapon that is easy to find, or made in that high amount of numbers. Moe is in absolute shock. _How did she--_

Annie quickly grabs Moe. “LISTEN! MOE SAID WE NEED MORE TIME. WE NEED MORE TIME. WE’RE GOOD FOR IT.”

The guard is stunned that she got the drop on him. Vutis wasn’t expecting this either.

“You had time, anemone. For something you should never had done.”

The guard takes the chance and pulls out his gun. Annie immediately charges through the back door and hits the ground. Moe is desperately clinging to her hair tendrils as Annie bolts away from the truck.

“RUN, BITCH, RUN!”

*****

Marie, still blitzed out of her mind, walks towards the residential shops outside of Starfish Mainstage. She’s craving some frozen pizza and some tamarind juice. She hears her phone ring but doesn’t even bother to check. _I’ll pay you later Bisk, what’s your rush._

The cool, night wind feels amazing on her skin. It’s something that she never really notices when sober nowadays. Or how pretty the stars looked. It’s become harder for her in recent months to enjoy simple things like she used to. She isn’t even snarky with Callie anymore and it was her favorite thing, to see her cousin get annoyed and start bantering back. She can’t really get back to that after the events of Callie’s kidnapping. It’s like something is blocking her.

But tonight? Marie felt loose and cheerful. And incredibly high.

She stumbles into a bodega that she recognizes, and starts rummaging through the frozen section until she finds her pizza. She would even eat pineapple pizza at this point, she’s craving frozen pizza that bad. The store is empty at these hours, and probably made worse by everyone nearby either working or attending the concert. She grabs her tamarind juice and just swirls the bottle a few times, giggling and being delighted at watching the bubbles move. She heads to the cashier to pay for it. The inkling cashier stares back at her, undoubtedly noticing her very bloodshot eyes.

“Ma’am… should I call you a cab?”

“I’m fresh! Don’t worry~”

Marie almost trips on her own feet as she walks towards the door. It’s not often she exchanges words with someone who has no clue who she is. The white mask certainly helps.

As she opens the door, she sees a sea anemone with pink and green hair run past her across the street and fires a gunshot behind her. Marie just stands there, unable to react. Then, two isopods catch up and run in the direction that Annie left in.

Marie is frozen there for a few seconds. She doesn’t realize that the inkling cashier is talking to her, asking if she’s unharmed. _Bisk got some good shit_ _if I_ _just_ _hallucinat_ _ed this_ _._

“On second thought, maybe that cab isn’t a bad idea.”


	4. Chapter 4

“INKOPOLIS! STARFISH MAINSTAGE! YOU’RE THE BEST, THANK YOU!”

Marina is waving at the crowd as Pearl is being carried via mosh pit. She’s thrown back onto the stage as the final notes of Ebb and Flow are done. A completely successful concert, by all accounts. Granted, it took Pearl not allowing Marina out of the DJ booth for that to happen.

Off the Hook runs to the backstage as everyone’s celebrating. They’re whisked off to the costume room to get changed into something more casual for the after-party.

Meanwhile, Starfish Mainstage manager Zulet meets with a purple inking.

“Ms. Callie Cuttlefish, I’m surprised you stopped by. Your ‘Sister’ usually just runs out. I am thankful you chose to visit us today, and that things went smoothly. I hope Houzuki’s little jabs at you didn’t upset you or anything.”

“Oh no! We’re good friends, and she just likes to involve her friends in events like this. Don’t worry, next concert of mine she’ll be there. And I know exactly how to even the score a bit.”

_Just have to check if ‘that’ is true._

Callie smiled with that wide iconic smile of hers at the large shrimp with emerald earrings.

“Cuttlefish, now that you’re here, I’ve wanted to ask-- Is everything alright? I know the main press isn’t aware of this, but… I know what happened a few months back. It must have been a bit traumatic to say the least.”

“I’m fine. Really, I worked with a therapist a bit. Really helped a lot. I’m super fine now! This being the first real concert I went to since then was so much fun as well! Glad I didn’t come back earlier when I might have given off some bad vibes.”

“Glad to hear it, Cuttlefish. And don’t worry, I’m good with secrets.”

Soon afterward, Callie and Zulet start discussing possible dates for Callie’s concert. Nothing set in stone for now, but Callie wanted to know what was available and there’s no one better to discuss this with that the GM of the concert hall.

Meanwhile, the after-party is well under way and Pearl notices that Marina immediately downs several cocktails.

*****

“Looks like the crowd’s winding down, Mr. Sean!”

Sean looks out and sees that the exiting crowd has dwindled down to a handful of people.

“Good, we’ll finish this and just take the remaining food to the ticket booth. The employees will split it.”

“So this is why you kept saying to continue cooking more?”

“Yeah, the GM of Starfish Mainstage is an old friend of my mother’s and she’s always helped me when she can. Even when I probably didn’t deserve it. The least I can do to pay her back is by feeding her employees with what doesn’t sell at the end of the day.”

“You’re very generous, boss.”

“I’m not going to withhold your paycheck, so you don’t need to be so polite haha!”

After they take the surplus food to the employees at the ticket booth, they head back to the food truck to start cleaning everything.

“Dude, this was a great crowd!” Bisk walks by Sean.

“Bisk, thanks for stopping by. I saved you a special Seanwich, just for you!”

“Thanks, bud. Cold and greasy, the way I love it. Not only that, but I made so much bank today! Altho I kinda lost some of my celebration produce, but that’s fine, I’ll go party somewhere else. Have you guys seen… never mind, she’s probably long gone by now.”

“Take it easy, Bisk. See you on Monday.”

*****

Annie hides behind some crates stacked in an alley. She knows generally where Vutis and his guard are. But finer details would really help and she is sorely lacking in that right now.

“...psst, what’s the endgame here?”

“Shut up.”

_OH ZAPFISH WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO WHAT IS THIS_

Out in the distance, she hears the guard say something and then hears Vutis run past them to the next alley.

_OK they’re separated, maybe this is my chance to escape._

She moves and starts heading down the alley. She then immediately hears the guard kick over the crates.

“I can hear you, bitch, I know you’re here.”

The guard runs and catches a flash of Annie running across and into a small storage building.

_Knew it._

The guard runs in and starts chasing her. “You’re making this much harder on yourself. I would have made it painless, anemone!”

Annie runs, hides, and desperately searches for an exit to the dark building. Nothing seems to be open except for the entrance, and the guard isn’t straying far from it.

The guard fires some shots into the air outside as the sea anemone crouches and starts holding her head and slowly rocks back and forth. _NO NO NO this is… this is so wrong_ _SO WRONG_

“Come on out! I ain’t got all day for this shit!”

Moe pulls on his friend’s hair tendril, trying to get her to snap out of it.

She starts shaking and her mind starts slipping. The voices start screaming.

_I nee▒d I n░eed help T▒his is w▓hy is░ this ▓hap▒peni░ng wh▓y I ░just ▒want I▓░ust want▒ I c▓an’t do▒ AHHH░H▒▒▓▒▓▒▓▒▓▒▓_

She gets up and runs out the door. Through pure luck he was looking down another section of the room. He catches a glimpse of her and heads after her back outside.

The guard runs and runs over to a fire escape where he stops.

_No, this can’t be it. She wouldn’t have reached the ladder that quickly. Where is--_

Suddenly, a can hits the wall and the isopod turns to look at it. The instant he sees it, he knew what was happening. And that he reacted wrong. And that he lost.

He turns the other way and, out of the corner of his eye, sees Annie standing out of a crate. With a gun pointed at his head.

_I should have checked--_

Annie, with eyes not of a timid shopkeeper but of someone in the middle of a psychotic break, pulls the trigger.

*****

Pearl watches Marina down yet another cocktail and decides to step in. The after-party’s been fun (and she is very buzzed), but at this point she knows exactly how her night is going to unfold involving her girlfriend.

Marie makes it and starts up the microwave for the pizza and rolls herself another joint.

Callie is taking a cab back home and is updating all her social media. The concert was a blast, and she can’t wait to restart her career. Everyone was so thrilled to see her again. Maybe she CAN make a successful comeback after all.

Bisk meets up with some friends and starts a bar crawl. He smiles when the first bar is playing some DJ Real Sole.

Sean and Golni continue to wash the kitchen equipment. Sean thinks that he heard a gunshot, but it’s so distant that it sounds like pots clanging together.

And Vutis hears the gunshot at a MUCH closer distance and heads off in that direction.


	5. Chapter 5

Vutis runs down the alley and sees his guard on the ground. He isn’t moving.

“Oh fuck, that girl ain’t here to play either.”

He makes a quick call. “Outside of Starfish Mainstage, in the alley next to the storage unit on 45th St and Concordia Ave. Need you to dispose of everything you see here. Trust me, you’ll know exactly who it is. I gotta chase down who did this, I’ll tell you the details later.”

Vutis runs onto Concordia Ave and sees a pink and green blur running back to Starfish Mainstage. Vutis starts running and is amazed as how quick she is in spite of having such stubby legs. Annie’s plan was to make it back and get in her van. After that? She wasn’t sure, maybe evade the bootleggers long enough to find a new hiding spot. Raw adrenaline is keeping the reality of what she did at bay for now. Moe is so stunned at what had happened that the words are stuck in his throat.

They pass the Lot Check gate, the vendors, and make it to the food section of the lot. Vutis takes a side path and cuts her off, finally having caught up. He tries to punch Annie and she ducks. He hits Moe, who is sent flying and slams hard against a parked truck. Annie and Vutis both pull out guns and point it at each other.

Both are very out of breath.

“You… piece of shit… I… didn’t know you... had this in you... anemone.”

Annie just stares back with intense rage, fully in the throws of her psychotic break.

“UNCLE?!”

Vutis looks up, and sees some distance behind Annie, is his nephew, Golni.

“What is this? What are you doing?”

“Golni, I need you to turn around and leave. And forget what you’re seeing now.”

Sean steps in, having seen enough of the seedy underside of Inkopolis in his time. “Golni, let’s leave for now.”

But then, he gets curious and takes a closer look. “...Annie?!”

“YOU DON’T NEED TO BE HERE, SEAN. I’M SENDING THIS FUCK TO THE GREAT ZAPFISH.”

“THIS BITCH… I’M SO PROUD OF THIS BITCH”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, MOE!”

Sean is bewildered once he sees clearly the scene. Shy, timid Annie, who helped and encouraged him in both his shoe salesman and food truck careers, who never hesitated to bail him out of problems, who is scared of socializing at times and seemingly hides at the first sign of trouble… is apparently pointing a gun at a mobster. Moe is bleeding out of his mouth on the floor. And… proud of Annie? This whole scene made no sense to him.

Vutis interjects. “Golni, please just leave. You don’t need to be a part of this.”

“Uncle! Don’t! You’re all my mom has! She can’t lose you!”

“Leave. Now.”

“WHAT WOULD I TELL HER?”

Vutis sighs for a second. And slowly, he put his gun down. Annie doesn’t budge. A minute passes and Annie is still frozen in her state. Vutis moves out of the way and walks past her. She still doesn’t react.

“I never told you this, but seeing you dirty with a real day’s work, then I shouldn’t treat you like a child anymore and tell you something you need to hear as a real adult. Your father didn’t die years ago. I never forgave my brother for abandoning you and your mother all those years ago. I did everything in my power, THIS power you see here, to find him, including some less-than-wholesome approaches but he was always such a slippery fuck, even when we were kids. I… felt the need to step in and help out what he neglected. And now, seeing you dirty as fuck in kitchen grease… I think I did good helping your mother out with you. I’m proud of you. And myself.”

He walks over to Golni. Then punches him so hard he is knocked out on the floor.

“That being said, don’t ever do that again. I might need to tell you this again when you wake up.”

He turns and looks at Sean. “Sean, right? I love your shwaffles.”

“Listen, I know how this works. I won’t tell--”

“It’s not about that, although I appreciate it. My nephew… he is very spoiled by his mother. And I wasn’t better to be honest. I never had any kids, so he was like all I had for some time until my youngest sister had her kids. I was worried that he wouldn’t know the value of work, and I certainly don’t want him in the business that me and Annie occupy, but seeing him dirty with grease, cleaning pots… it really makes me happy. If you bring him on for more work, please don’t think you need to go easy on him for my sake. I want him sweating.”

“Sure thing. Plenty of struggle in this business. He’ll learn.”

Vutis thanks him and walks back to Annie, who has put the gun down but hasn’t moved otherwise.

“I’m not sure if you’re all there right now, but I’ll say this so that you and your clownfish friend can’t deny it later on. I’ll give you two rejects one month to get the cash together to refund the headphones. Or get the headphones we agreed upon. Your choice. Or next time I’ll make sure that my nephew isn’t there to guilt trip me.”

Vutis starts to walk back to his truck. “Oh, and one day, I’ll get you two for what happened to my guard. I know it’s the price of this business, but don’t worry, you two will be doing some painful work for me real soon.”

Sean crouches and checks on Golni, who’s coming to. “Ugh, he didn’t need to do that.”

“Him being your uncle is what’s still keeping you breathing. Anyone else would have offed you without a thought.”

Golni slowly gets up. “I’ll have to have a serious talk with him soon. They were hiding all this from me and…”

Sean just puts his claw on the young isopod’s shoulder. “Different battle for a different day, kiddo. For now, go back to the truck and finish washing the rest of the pots. We should be done soon anyway. Gimme a minute and I’ll be there with you.”

He starts to walk over to the vendor stall then stops.

“Golni, by the way, you are a natural at this. Seriously, you did good out there today.” The young isopod smiles, finally haven gotten a sense of purpose and direction for his future.

Sean resumes walking and looks down at the clownfish, who’s wallowing in a small pool of blood.

“* _cough*_ OH I’M DYING. I’M COMING TO YOU GREAT ZAPFISH. I CAN HEAR THE MUSIC”

Sean roughly grabs Moe and walks over to Annie. “Relax, you’ll be fine. You wouldn’t be going to the Great Zapfish anyway.”

He dumps Moe in Annie’s hair and crouches down to meet her stare. Glasses cracked, barely on her face. Blood-splattered clothes, torn in many places. Darkness chases all the color from the clothes. Several cuts on her face and hair tendrils. Signature starfish hair decoration’s missing. Terrified, dissociated stare.

“I can’t pretend to know what happened here, or what led to this in the first place. I wish you had talked to me, or at least let me know. It’s been forever since we last spoke Annie, it was when you started SplatNet with Murch. You seemed so excited. How did… how did it become this?”

Annie continues to stare through him.

“Many years ago, I started working in Inkopolis Plaza and felt out of place among all the experienced salesmen. But a girl reached out and offered a hand in friendship. I truly treasured that, as that must have been difficult for that demure, timid person to do. But now… I don’t recognize that girl.”

Annie continues to stare through him.

“* _sigh*_ One day. Please just talk to me. I don’t want to hear that you died from Sheldon.”

Annie’s eyes finally move. “S-Sean… Sean, I ki--”

Sean immediately puts his claw on her lips. He had pieced together what Annie had done earlier that night. “No, don’t. Don’t tell that to anyone. Especially in public. You’ll never see the world again if you do. Box it up and throw it out like it never existed.”

He puts his claw down and Annie slowly nods. “If you do want to talk, we’ll meet up. But it had to be away from here. OK? Please, message me tomorrow. We can meet up then.”

Sean gets up and walks over to the truck to finish cleaning. Annie continues to not move from her spot or break her stare. Except for a solitary tear, that evades a cut on her cheek and escapes into the nighttime air.


	6. Chapter 6

A very raucous and upbeat concert after-party rages on in the Starfish Mainstage offices. After seeing Marina inhale yet another cocktail, Pearl becomes concerned.

“Reena, you’ve drank like, three times whatcha normally drink at these things. OK OK gimme that one. What’s the deal?”

Marina pouts as Pearl takes away another cocktail. “I’M FINE, I’M FINE, NOTHING IS WRONG”

“...Yeah. Sure seems that way. Let’s go back to our office, we’ve had enough fun out here.”

Pearl waves her goodbyes as Marina is barely standing and uses Pearl as a crutch by grabbing her head. As they both stumble out to their room, Marina starts getting handsy with her crush. Pearl starts laughing. She is not used to being the more sober one.

“Babe, people can see us here, we’re almost at the room.”

“HEEHEE YOU CAN’T EXCAPE”

Pearl kicks the door open and Marina just falls into the opening. Pearl locks the door and tends to the octoling. “Babe, you alive?”

Marina immediately grabs Pearl and throws her to the side, and then pins her down. “HEYJUS. HEY GOR. YOU KNOW WHAT” and then plants a kiss on Pearl’s lips and rams her tongue in. Pearl isn’t expecting this but she’s pretty drunk as well and isn’t fighting it. She then fights it when Marina sloppily shoves her hand on top of Pearl’s crotch.

“WAIT wait we should relax for a bit!” Pearl knows that sober Marina would be horrified as it was very important to her to take these relationship steps slowly. Marina didn’t want to rush things as Pearl wasn’t someone she ever wanted to lose and she wanted them to be secure in every step they took. Pearl, on the other hand, desperately wanted this and never had any intention to ever leave Marina but wanted Marina to be comfortable and happy even more. She would never forgive herself if she scared Marina off by not being patient.

So now it’s on her to stop something she wants more than anything at the moment.

Marina picks Pearl up and slams her against the wall. “SELF. ISH. PEARLIE.”

Pearl is being overwhelmed by the barrage of sloppy, drunk kisses and Marina’s free hand clumsily groping her. Pearl thinks quickly and shrinks to squid form. Usually it’s useless outside of turf wars or cuddling but pretty useful to evade someone who’s this shitfaced. The octoling turns and falls right over and just starts laughing for a few minutes. Then she stops laughing.

 _Oh I recognize this._ Pearl runs over and opens the bathroom door. Marina quickly follows and vomits profusely into the toilet. All Pearl can do is hold her tentacles and rub her back.

“I’m here, girl. Just let it all out.”

*****

“Thanks!”

Callie closes the car door and heads to her doorsteps. She had turned down the concert after-party as she has a hectic morning to attend to, and she wanted to be in perfect shape to start tackling her comeback. She’s busy running plans in her head, and doesn’t realize that the lights to her place are already on. She does, however, realize that the door isn’t locked. She pushes it open and is quickly hit with a very strong stench.

“lol cuz you made it”

Callie sees Marie sitting on the ground next to her kitchen eating barely heated frozen pizza and taking a hit off a joint. Callie can’t believe what she’s seeing.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? AND WHERE IS YOUR SHIRT?”

“look, imma be honest i accidentally gave the cab dude the wrong address. but you have a microwave, so we’re good”

“MARIE!”

Callie’s dreams of waking up refreshed were also going up in smoke. She did not want to deal with this.

“I wanted a peaceful night. What can I do to get rid of you.”

“i got this pizza, wanna share?”

“AGH!”

Callie runs over and starts opening windows. “How long have you been smoking here? Why does the whole house smell like weed?”

Marie just giggles.

“Marie, we talked about this. You were going to cut back.”

“can we talk later? i’m tryna enjoy this”

“Seriously? I can’t believe this. I finally get this comeback started and--”

“wait, comeback? you finally getting your lazy ass off the couch and restarting your career? man i woulda lost that bet”

Callie’s still annoyed but grins for a bit. For a second, it felt like the old Marie was back, throwing barbs like old times.

Callie had noticed how Marie changed a bit after the rescue from Octo Valley. It started off with Marie being just slightly different and it gradually changed everything. At some point, her usual snarkiness and shade throwing was gone, and she just seemed to… exist. Callie figured it was due to the trauma of having Callie being kidnapped and not really being able to do much about it until Sheldon and Alicia showed up and led the rescue efforts. Callie had, naturally, also experienced unsettling trauma, but she chose to meet up with a therapist and work on it for a few months. She isn’t done working with the therapist either, but she’s made good progress. Marie just settled into a small rut and wouldn’t move on. Callie’s even brought up meeting a therapist once and Marie promised that it would happen.

It never did.

And, like when Callie showed concerned for Marie’s increased marijuana use, Marie had promised to cut down. Callie was deeply worried for her cousin, but there wasn’t anything she could do to force Marie to care for her mental being the way she cared for her physical being.

“Yeah, I’m doing it. I’m in the right state of mind to try it out. Imagine! The name ‘Callie’ adorning the billboards once again!”

“* _inhales*_ cuz you need to try this. i coulda sworn i saw annie--”

“DID YOU HEAR A SINGLE THING I SAID?”

*****

A cold, sterile white studio. The door unlocks, and in walks a sea anemone, clothes no longer colorful and stylish but tattered, bloody, and drained of life. Annie walks to the kitchen and puts her cracked, broken glasses on the counter. She washes her face and feels stinging everywhere. She pulls out Moe who is out cold.

“Get up, you need to clean yourself.” He coughs a bit as he’s shaken.

“...I had the weirdest dream”

“No, all of it was real. But we need to treat these cuts before they get worse. Can you check my hair tendrils? I feel like some of it needs care.”

What was an unbelievably wild night for Annie and Moe ends quietly in their studio, treating cuts as they start discussing how to fix their problems with Vutis. But both are exhausted and they’ll need to continue the discussion the next morning. Or afternoon, since it’s basically morning already.

Moe goes to his container and covers himself as he starts to doze off. Annie brushes her teeth in the bathroom and, once she’s done, looks in the mirror. Sees a broken woman, face and hair tendrils full of cuts, bandages, salve marks, and a forming bruise on her nose where her glasses would rest.

░▒▓ _kill_ ░▒▓ _k░▒▓ill░▒▓er░▒▓er░_ ▓ _kill░▒▓er░▒▓_ ░▒▓ _k░▒▓ill░▒▓er░▒▓_ ░▒▓ _killer░▒▓_

Annie ignores the voices like she always has and walks to bed, in her adorable red and white pajamas with a matching stocking cap. She covers up with her blanket and tries to doze off.

“Annie, do you want to talk--”

“Go to sleep.”

Moe closes his eyes and dozes back off. And right before he’s taken to dreamland, he could swear he heard sobbing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ILU Annie. I am so sorry


	7. Chapter 7

It’s late morning and Off the Hook starts the process to check out of the Starfish Mainstage offices. Pearl, being the less hungover one, is running around doing everything. Marina is leaning against the wall still somewhat drunk.

Pearl gets the concert hall staff together and thanks them for the hard work and apologizes for the chaos she caused. She then apologizes to one of the octoling sound technicians as Marina had vomited on his shoes earlier that morning.

Zulet grins as she takes Pearl to the office to sign closing paperwork, as Marina is not in good shape to do such.

“Houzuki, you two did well. Sales and concessions were through the roof! I have no idea how you get people to loosen their wallets so easily, but I won’t complain one bit.”

“Ain’t no deal, I’m always glad to be here. I just hope next time won’t be as problematic.”

“Just think things through at your venues and you shouldn’t blow anyone up. Speaking of which, your co-star is still messed up, isn’t she.”  
Pearl giggles as she can still imagine Marina struggling to stand even now.

“Yeah she got a little too into the party. I’ve never seen her go that nuts and get so shitfaced. I’m not used to being the responsible one. My manager was even being supportive of me! That’s how weird this whole thing was.”

Zulet laughs and nods as they say their goodbyes. Pearl grins and starts walking over to Marina and their band manager.

“Such a weird pair.”

*****

Back at Pearl’s apartment, Pearl helps Marina to the couch. Marina plops down and is holding her head.

“Pearlie…”

“Finally kicked in, huh? I gotchu.”

Pearl gets her girlfriend some water and some bread. She can’t help but to be drawn in to her girlfriend just staring off into the void while eating. She wishes she could do more for Marina, to help take some of the hangover pain from her. Marina finishes eating and lies down on her side on the couch, resting her head on Pearl’s lap. All that comes to Pearl’s mind is to rub her back and whisper sweet little things into her ear.

“You looked so gorgeous yestaday. I might have to start fending off suitors soon.”

“Really? But what if I like the suitor~”

“I’ll fight anyone and everyone. I can’t be beat!”

“Oh no Pearlie, if you fight too hard then people might get the wrong impression of us~”

“I’ll leave an impression on everyone’s dumb faces.”

Marina gets a silly grin as she squeezes Pearl’s thigh.

“Hey Reena, how much of yestaday night do you remember?”

Marina turns red. “N-nothing. We’re are the party and next thing I’m waking up on the bathroom floor the next morning.”

_That was so embarrassing, please don’t bring up me being so aggressive with intimacy_

Pearl knows she’s lying but doesn’t call her out on it. “Why did you drink so much? You’re usually the one yelling at me to not get so trashed.”

_Oh what a relief_

“...I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Babe, I was worried. That wasn’t like you.”

Marina sighs as she flips over to look at Pearl’s face from her lap. She doesn’t like to let Pearl worry so much. “I felt so… weak. I couldn’t even complete the concert and basically had to have you do everything. I felt so embarrassed and I just wanted that feeling gone. I don’t want to be anyone’s burden. Even now! Look. You still have to care of me after all my trying to avoid it.”

“Reena, look at me. You will never be a burden to me. Ever. You never were back when we first met and I taught you Inklish and about Inkopolis society. You weren’t when we first started performing and you weren’t familiar with venue customs. You weren’t when you’d get sick and I had to look after you. And you certainly aren’t now that we’re…”

Marina slyly grins. “Oh, and what are we now?”

Pearl smirks. “...I dunno, you some stranger in my house. Are you lost, miss?”

Marina just laughs before the pain reaches her head. Pearl comforts her the best she can and caresses her tentacles.

Marina looks back up at her girlfriend and feels relief at seeing her gentle smile. She isn’t used to feeling this type of love and can’t really get comfortable with the idea of fully relying on someone. Even if it’s her best friend and her love.

But, she’ll make it work.

It’s what they both want, more than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for this little slice of this wonderful couple! Hope you all enjoyed.


End file.
